Publication Summary

The purpose of the Coordinated Prevention Grant (CPG) Program is to help local governments develop, implement, and enforce their local solid and moderate risk waste management plans.

These plans have been developed to help local government better manage and contain community wastes, and to minimize or eliminate the generation of hazardous substances and solid waste.

This report outlines key observations and points of interest regarding the CPG grants and the 2000-01 biennium.

CPG program will continue the tradition of state and local partnerships and will promote learning about the most successful strategies for reducing waste and pollution. The CPG revisions will be incorporated into the grant guidelines for the 2004-05 grant cycle. There are information gaps that occur during data collection that make it impossible for Ecology to show the complete picture of the status of solid waste management in the state.

We believes it is necessary to have some means of collecting data on all solid waste management activities, not just those funded by state grant dollars, and to have some means of determining the value obtained through the investments.

However, an analysis of the data alone cannot provide all the answers that will help us better reach waste reduction and recycling goals. Ecology is beginning to transition from a focus on managing wastes to one focused more on reducing wastes. The CPG program is an important tool that can be used to help local government meet statewide goals to support this "Beyond Waste" effort.

Throughout the report you will find some questions under the heading: "Some questions for further thought.

They are intended to provoke thought about continuous improvement of the CPG program with particular attention to environmental results and collection of performance data. These are some of the questions we are asking of ourselves while considering ways to achieve CPG Program improvements and support the goals of the Beyond Waste Project. For more information about the Beyond Waste Project, please see Ecology′s web site at: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/beyondwaste/ .